Respondent tells panel vaccines do not cause autism and urges parents to vaccinate against measles

Unidentified Speaker 2 (Respondent) told a questioner during a public exchange that they do not believe vaccines cause autism and urged parents to vaccinate their children against measles.

Unidentified Speaker 1 (Questioner) pressed the respondent to address concerns directly for the public, asking whether vaccines cause autism and whether the respondent had shown "Secretary Kennedy" evidence that vaccines do not cause autism. The questioner repeatedly requested a loud, clear statement for parents amid a reported measles epidemic.

On the record, Unidentified Speaker 2 said, "I do not believe that the measles vaccine causes autism." When the questioner broadened the query to "Do vaccines cause autism?" the respondent replied, "I have not seen a study that suggests any single vaccine causes autism." Those two direct statements framed the exchange: a public-health endorsement to vaccinate against measles and an assertion that the respondent had not encountered scientific evidence linking any single vaccine to autism.

The exchange as presented in the transcript consists of a questioner seeking a clear, public assurance and a respondent offering a short factual denial of a causal link, accompanied by an explicit recommendation for measles vaccination. No formal motions, votes, citations to specific peer-reviewed studies, or references to next steps appear in the recorded segment.

The hearing transcript shows this was a concise, on-the-record clarification rather than a scientific review: the respondent spoke from personal knowledge of the literature they had seen and did not cite specific studies or data during the exchange. The interaction ended after brief thanks and there was no further recorded discussion in this segment.